Saturday, November 9, 2013

One of Hawaii's openly gay representatives, Jo Jordan, made history this week by being the first openly gay person in power to actually vote against marriage equality in Hawaii in what has often been a contentious fight at best. The reason why she voted against the bill is not because she's anti-same sex marriage. It's really because she isn't certain the law is as strong as it should be and as a legislator her solitary goal is to create an absolute law that can't be challenged down the line.

“I’m not here to protect the big churches or the little churches, I’m saying we can’t erode what’s currently out there. We don’t want to scratch at the religious protections at all, because if we don’t create a measure that’s bulletproof, or as close to bulletproof as possible, then the measure will go to the courts. And they will interpret it however that may be. A judge will make assumptions and make a ruling, and that will become the law of the land. So you really want us to create the legislation.”
As anyone can imagine, Jo Jordon has not been all that popular with the LGBT community for obvious reasons. I'm not even sure how to comment on this one. I would imagine that if a few other LGBT people in power agreed with Jordon and backed her up it might sound less extreme. However, right now same sex marriage is about to pass in Hawaii in spite of Jordon's protests, and Hawaii will then become the 16th state to have legalized same sex marriage.

But the step in Hawaii has special resonance because the contemporary battle over same-sex marriage was born here two decades ago. Such marriages existed nowhere when Ninia Baehr and Genora Dancel, along with two other couples, filed what seemed like an utterly quixotic lawsuit seeking a marriage license. To near universal shock, Hawaii’s Supreme Court granted them a victory in 1993, ruling that a refusal to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry was discriminatory and illegal.
I'm not really surprised that I don't remember this. To be perfectly honest, I'd already been with Tony for a full year in 1993 and at the time actual legal marriage was not even on our proverbial radar. In other words, we didn't think that way because we had been conditioned to not think that way. And people like is basically did the best we could with circumstances we didn't even know we could change.

Indy Mayor Against Marriage Ban
The Mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard, came out publicly against Indiana's gay marriage ban and he signed a resolution to prove it. As it stands now, in Indiana marriage is between one man and one woman, and now conservative groups want to make this even stronger by creating a measure that would make it even more difficult to legalize gay marriage there.

Indiana already limits marriage to being between one man and one woman. Indiana lawmakers are set to consider amending that definition into the state constitution during the upcoming session.If successful, the measure would then be placed on the ballot for consideration by voters next November.
They also want to leave it up to voters, much like Gov. Chris Christie wanted to do in NJ recently.

If successful, the measure would then be placed on the ballot for consideration by voters next November.

The problem with leaving something like this up to voters is that anyone who is anti-gay and doesn't want to see LGBT people have the same equal rights as everyone else gets to decide the rights of innocent people and that's just not fair. I personally don't want a Christian bible thumping zealot deciding my fate, just as that same Christian bible thumping zealot would not want ME deciding his or her fate.

What is highly interesting about this whole thing with Greg Ballard, at least it is to me, is that Ballard is a Republican mayor, and yet he is still against a marriage ban. Ballard has also been a guest, in a front row seat, at a gay wedding.

When Democratic councilor Zach Adamson recited his wedding vows at a multi-faith ceremony in Indianapolis last weekend, Republican Mayor Greg Ballard and wife Winnie were there in the front row to witness it. Adamson and his long-time partner Christian Mosburg had gotten legally married in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 19, but they returned to Indiana — where same sex marriage is banned — last weekend to repeat their vows.You can read more here.

As a side note, I'll be posting something brief about New Hope Mayor, Larry Keller, very soon with the recent results of the local election. I posted about how Mayor Keller refused to marry a gay couple here in PA last month in several places. His decision started local firestorm that probably won't end for a long, long time.

Second Chance: The Complete Series

About Me

Ryan
@ryanfield
Hybrid author of over 100 published modern romance novels and stories, including AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN, FANGSTERS, THE RAINBOW DETECTIVE AGENCY and best selling VIRGIN BILLIONAIRE SERIES. (The profile photo isn't very good, but it's really me and it's recent from 2017. I'm not supposed to be a photographer. )
RfieldJ@aol.com

Second Chance: His Only Choice

Second Chance: The Sweetest Apple

Cowboy Christmas Miracle Glendora Hill Series

The Littlest Christmas Tree

Book 2 Second Chance Series

Best Seller on Allromanceebooks.com

Bad Boy Billionaire: The Actor Learning to Love

I won't give out any spoilers, but this is the first time I've ever worked the attacks on the World Trade Center into a novel (you can see the twin towers in the background on the cover)...it's also the first time I've ever written a strong lesbian theme into the subplot.

The Women Who Love to Love Gay Romance

An Anthology with Ryan Field Press, release date August 30, 2013...links to follow soon.

Fangsters: Clan of the Jersey Boys

At a glance, Anton Pagano looks and sounds just like any other twenty-something. He lives in a mansion in northern New Jersey with his mom and dad, and he's never had to worry about anything other than his wardrobe, his latest new car, and the secret love affair he's been having for years. However, Anton has more than just the love affair to hide: he belongs to a Sicilian vampire mobster clan that migrated to New Jersey in the late 1800s.

The Wall Street Shark

Third installment of the Bad Boy Billionaire series.

Note to All Readers...

I welcome all comments and e-mails from readers of this blog or readers of my books.

All comments on this blog are treated with absolute discretion and all anonymous comments will remain private at all times. All reader e-mails sent to me in private will also be treated with discretion and will never, NEVER, be reprinted or reposted anywhere in public by me unless I get permission, in writing, from the reader. In other words, your privacy will always be respected.

Facebook Badge

That Cowboy in the Window

Erotic Gay Romance with a twist.

Chase of a Dream

In this 59,000 word unabridged version of the sequel to "Chase of a Lifetime" that contains all of the original erotic scenes, Jim Darling finally finds the happiness he's been chasing for so long. He and Len Mayfield have settled into a quiet routine in their small newly renovated home in the Hollywood Hills, and they enjoy every minute they spend together raising Len's toddler grandson, Culum Mayfied.

An Officer and His Gentleman

Alyson Books

Ravenous Romance

all romance ebooks

Cleis Press

Pretty Man

Unlike most stories, where the rich and powerful husband dumps the hard working, devoted life partner for someone younger, this one takes a turn in the opposite direction when the rich husband is the one to get dumped. But with young Josh's help, Roland learns in less than a week's time that his future can still hold both earth-shattering sex and a love of real substance.

Whatever, Dude

When a young professional is mistaken for a hooker, the outcome is always shocking.

Disclaimer

I don't post photos or images here unless I'm certain they fall under the guidelines of fair use or public domain. But this blog has been around for a while and even though I've triple checked previous posts for photos and taken down anything questionable, I might have missed something and my intention was not to infringe on anyone's rights. I will continue to update, and all photos I post now will provide attribution of some kind. If not, they are believed to be in the public domain.